


The Best Defense

by Calesvol



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 09:52:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calesvol/pseuds/Calesvol
Summary: themadandthemaverick requested: What if Charlie and Bee went on a roadtrip together?? No worries for a good few days, just the two of them and (maybe) a map as Charlie shows Bee some of the most beautiful places in the USA.





	The Best Defense

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone wondering who Stingray is, just check out Little Red Corvete!

Warning(s): G, none

* * *

“I think I’m gonna ask him, Red. To be Conjunx Enderae with me.”

 

For the last several hours, it’d been just her and Stingray on the open road. There wasn’t anything unusual about it, because it meant he didn’t require a holoform driver to give the appearance of normalcy. And...he was her son. They were family. Of course they could keep themselves together while Bee went on his mission, promising to meet them in the Motel 56 they were staying at in Silver Springs, Arizona—right on the cusp of the Grand Canyon she swore she could see glimpses of in the right amount of sunlight.

 

That night, late at midnight, she and Stingray sat restively in a copse of trees in a pinewood forest skirting the borders of the small town. What seemed to be more buildings clustered in a dense forest split by a single, main road was enough for them to be able to slip away unseen. Through the nexus of needled branches could Charlie see spinning nebulae and a sky spangled in an endless tapestry of stars. With the air dry but pleasantly warm, it was a nice night for them to be out.

 

“Conjunx Endurae? You mean, like married?” the young transformer broached, Charlie perched on his plated scarlet calf.

 

Charlie felt a hot flush creep up her neck, barely able to avoid Stingray’s innocuous, curious blue optics. “I— I mean, when you put it like that, as a person, it—yeah,” she deflated in a brief concession, knowing it was better to tell her son outright.

 

Her _son_. And here she thought she’d never settle down as fast as some of her classmates were out the gate already. But here she was, on a summer road trip with what was her son in the eyes of Cybertronian culture, no labor pains necessary. A being that had doubly attributed the creation to via Bumblebee.

 

That’d be something to say at a high school reunion. How she was married to an alien robot from Cybertron.

 

“Hey, mom?”

 

That got Charlie’s attention, mustering a smile for his sake. “Yeah?”

 

“Do you love dad?”

 

That took Charlie off guard. That’s right—Stingray hadn’t been there when Bumblebee and she had that heart-to-heart, spilling their guts and bolts all over each other, which...sounded gross to imagine, but it wasn’t entirely off the mark.

 

“I do,” Charlie said plainly, affection lacing her voice.

 

Stingray couldn’t help but light up at that. Large arms gently encircled her and she laughed giddily, leaning into the gentle show of their bond, that soft thing that fluttered like a bird in her chest.

 

“Dibs on being best man,” Stingray quipped with what sounded like a smile, Charlie giggling into the embrace.

 

“Gotcha. But only if you wear the goofiest, dorkiest and biggest bow tie we can find.”

 

“Aw, but _mooooooooooom_!”

 

At that, she couldn’t help but burst into a fit of giggling.

 

* * *

“I thought he’d be here by now.”

 

Seated in the driver’s seat outside of a mom and pop bar, Charlie contemplatively chewed the breakfast sandwich she’d ordered, sipping some of the soda. Though she didn’t want to voice it, her anxieties were largely mirrored. “He’ll be here. Maybe the doofus just took a wrong turn,” Charlie said hopefully, even though she felt a twist of worry in her gut. With everything that had happened, the threat of Decepticons was a perpetual concern none of them could shake.

 

Stingray still vibrated with apprehension, turning the radio dial on his own while Charlie indulged him and listened, having wanted to do the same exact thing.

 

“ _An explosion was heard at the Southern Rim just minutes ago, park rangers looking into the possibility of an avalanche caused by last week’s torrential downpour—_ “

 

“An explosion?” Charlie repeated aloud, feeling her blood curdle icily in her very veins.

 

“Dad,” Stingray whimpered through the radio, Charlie moving on autopilot. It had to be Bee—what else could explain him being so late without at least radioing in or something?

 

“Can you hone in on him, Red? We’ve gotta find him!”

 

Stingray’s transponder buzzed and crackled hurriedly as he attempted to do just that before it stopped, the young Autobot declaring, “Found dad!” Without another word did Stingray speed away from the parking lot he’d occupied, soaring down the turnpike and towards the Grand Canyon.

 

The scenery blurred unremarkably past as the pair sped towards the national park, forest soon giving way to open vistas and flat veldt pocked by tough grasses and cacti, thankful that it was still morning and that the crush of tourists scrambling to get into the parks were largely clear. Because even if they weren’t, Charlie knew they’d move heaven and hell to get to Bee and make sure he was safe.

 

It wasn’t long before they came to one of the touristy vantage points, giving them an ample and spectacular view of of the canyon Charlie would’ve wanted to linger and relish in, but knew that they couldn’t.

 

Without even a moment’s hesitation did Stingray transform into his Autobot form, heedless of who might see. And the moment that he did did the two of them hear a cacophonous explosion that rocked with the dissonance of mortar fire, feeling it through to her bones. From afar, Charlie followed the sound and watched as Bumblebee was waging a war of wills in the river valley, the Colorado River shallow enough that it came only to his waist in the summer drought. There, a nameless Decepticon twice his height grappled for dominance with destructive power, Charlie blanching at the sight of it.

 

“Mom, there are people coming up on it fast! We have to help them!” Stingray cried out anxiously and pointing at a large raft careening perilously close to the stage of action. Just around the bend, there wouldn’t be more than a few seconds for them to act.

 

“Right. Come on, let’s go!”

 

Without another word did Stingray squat so Charlie could piggyback on his back, careful to avoid the splintering parts before he sprinted off the very cliff and Charlie felt the distinct sensation of her stomach dropping in the fall. Catching himself on a buttress, the Autobot skidded the rest of the descent down while grappling for purchase, Charlie certain she’d be pelted in clay-toned dust before they reached the bottom.

 

Once barely feet from the valley floor, Stingray leaped one last time into the river, a little taller than Bumblebee. The people in the raft startled at the transformer that halted their advance, a gentle stop that didn’t upset anyone but made them cognizant of the battle ahead, some swearing oaths at the sight of it.

 

With Stingray’s help did Charlie climb aboard the raft, digging for a lead line for him to take and temporarily moor to some branch or other overhanging the river. “Red, catch!” Charlie prompted once she did, the Autobot dexterously tethering it. “Uh, hey, um—stay calm, everyone! We’ve just got a little, um,” the brunette glanced over her shoulder at Bumblebee and the Decepticon exchanging blows, “…situation. Yeah! It’ll be alright in a second, so—maybe...get comfy, yeah.” God, she wasn’t cut out to be a tour guide, was she?

 

Feeling the raft lurch forth a bit, Charlie turned to see why when Stingray leaped into the fray, several plates of facial armor covering it while his firearm deployed, watching with a swell of pride as Bumblebee became aware of his son’s backup, grappling the Decepticon and wheeling it around so Stingray could get a clear shot. In a long moment of anticipation did Stingray steady his firing arm and optics narrow, then taking the shot in a thunderous echo that shook Charlie down to her very bones. The Decepticon’s head was blasted clean off, the crackle of fizzling electronics sounded whilst the body locked up and dropped dead into the water, the volume of it swelling when the deceased passed under the raft and Charlie could swear she shuddered as it did.

 

Wordlessly did Bumblebee embrace his son, the firearm disengaging and Stingray embraced the elder Autobot back. People aboard the raft couldn’t help but croon at the sight of it, Charlie feeling herself tear up a bit. Though, she started a bit when Bumblebee waded through the water for her, offering a hand while Stingray chattered once he extricated himself from the embrace.

 

“Welp, things look safe now,” he prattled while undoing the tether and passing the rope on to the raft’s occupants, who appeared largely mollified now that the threat was gone, “so you fine folks go about on your way, alrighty? Have a good one!” With that, the reclaimed their oars and paddled anew to resume their jaunty trip down the river.

 

Politely did Stingray avert his eyes while Bumblebee picked Charlie up, brows touching as Charlie embraced and cradled Bee’s head close. “You were awesome out there, Bee,” Charlie murmured fondly as she pressed a tender kiss to his brow, Bumblebee glowing at the affection.

 

“You weren’t half-bad either,” Bee conceded, laughing softly at Stingray turning their back to him. He really was just a kid. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it today. These Decepticons came out of nowhere and Optimus and I had to take care of them before anyone got hurt.”

 

“Shhh, hey, it’s okay. You were doing the right thing, Bee. How can I fault you on that?”

 

“You were so cool out there, dad!” Stingray interjected, gushing frankly. “Like, the way you were just clobbering that guy! And when I got to blow his head off—it was so cool!” Charlie couldn’t help but laugh softly at that.

 

“See? Red thinks so, too.” Stingray came into the fold while Bee spared a free arm to loop over his son’s shoulders, the young Autobot chirping happily.

 

“I’m just glad you guys are alright. And we make a pretty good team, huh?” Bee said with a smile in his voice, bumping temples with Stingray who could only fluster in protest—like any kid would.

 

“Why don’t we hit the road again? I bet we could find some cool places all to ourselves here,” Charlie hinted with a note of mischievousness, the other two seeming in perfect agreement despite the slight ache in her chest.

 

While they made their way up the cliff side, she couldn’t help but wonder: when would be a good time to ask? And, was she really in her right to? Getting married was always a huge thing and part of her worried she hadn’t known Bee long enough, that she’d just be there to weigh him down. And she was only eighteen, too. Was she even ready for that kind of commitment? Letting these doubts sink into her like stones, she bit her tongue on the ascension up and praised whatever was out there for neither Stingray nor Bee noticing.

 

Maybe some other time.


End file.
